Your sleep questions, answered

You can follow the program at your own pace. To make room for busy days, weekends, or holidays, we've built natural pauses into the journey. If you stop opening the emails for a few days or don't complete one of the required questionnaires, the program automatically pauses — and resumes as soon as you open an email or complete the pending form.

Everything arrives by email, around 15 minutes a day. Daily exercises, videos and short tests, plus a digital sleep diary you fill in as you go. Weekly check-ins show your progress and adjust the advice to what your diary is telling us. Towards the end of the Journey, you have a 1-on-1 video call with a certified sleep expert. It starts with the free insomnia test. Mirror SleepWise is built specifically for insomnia rather than sleep problems in general, so the test decides whether the program is right for you before you pay anything.

The SleepWise Journey and the Coached SleepWise Journey both run 8 weeks. The Sleep Scan runs 7 days. All of them take around 15 minutes a day. You can go slower if you need to, and the program pauses automatically when life gets in the way, then picks up where you left off. Eight weeks is in line with standard CBT-I, which typically runs six to eight weeks. It is built to be finished rather than dipped into. Most people notice a change before the end, though the opening week can feel harder before it gets easier.

Yes. Companies can run Mirror SleepWise for their people at €250 per person for the 8-week Journey, usually from around 20 people. There are free options to start with too: a sleep literacy quiz, a custom insomnia test for your team, and live webinars with our sleep experts. Employers receive an anonymised team report covering insomnia levels, chronotypes and lifestyle patterns. That is what makes this useful beyond individual wellbeing. If most of your team are late chronotypes, an 8 am standing meeting is quietly costing you. The no-cure, no-pay promise applies to team licences as well. Most companies start with a call to work out which piece fits.

It depends. Many people simply don't nap, and that's perfectly fine. If you struggle with insomnia, avoiding naps is best — staying awake during the day builds sleep pressure (your body's natural drive to sleep at night), which we want to preserve. If your sleep is stable and you enjoy napping, keep it short (20–30 minutes) and earlier in the day (ideally before 3pm). Longer or later naps can lead to deeper sleep, leaving you groggy and potentially delaying bedtime.

Answered by Rui Francisco PereiraPsychologist, PhD Researcher & Sleep Specialist

To a point. Sleep trackers can help identify patterns and trends over time, but focusing too closely on nightly numbers can create unnecessary worry. Balance the data with how you actually feel — your mood when you wake up is a meaningful indicator of sleep quality too. Track your sleep in a meaningful way, not an obsessive one.

Answered by Rui Francisco PereiraPsychologist, PhD Researcher & Sleep Specialist

Blue light has a negligible impact on sleep: our brain is wired to react to sunlight, which is more than 1,000 times more intense than a screen. Blue light also has positive effects — it reduces fatigue and increases alertness, cognitive performance and wellbeing. So blue-light glasses aren't recommended.

Answered by Aurore RolandClinical Psychologist, Doctoral Researcher & Sleep Specialist

For most people with insomnia, no. European guidelines do not recommend standard fast-release melatonin, the kind sold over the counter, because the evidence base is weak. Prolonged-release melatonin is recommended, but only for adults over 55 and only for up to three months. Melatonin is a timing signal rather than a sedative. It tells your body what time it is, which is why it genuinely helps with jet lag and body clock disorders. It does very little for the hyperarousal driving most insomnia. Herbal sleep supplements are also not recommended, for the same reason.

That depends on what is causing the problem, and it is a question for a doctor rather than a pharmacy shelf. Sleeping pills are not the right answer for everyone and should only be used where appropriate. The first step is identifying the underlying cause, so the treatment matches the actual sleep disorder.

European guidelines put medication second to CBT-I, and recommend most sleep medication for short-term use of up to four weeks. If your sleep problem has been running for months, a prescription on its own is unlikely to resolve it.

Answered by Vera ClérigoPulmonologist specializing in Sleep Medicine

For most people, between 15 and 19 degrees, cooler than feels natural during the day. Your body lowers its core temperature in order to fall asleep, so an overly warm room works against the process. A room that feels slightly cool when you get into bed is usually about right. Holding that through the year is mostly small adjustments. In summer, ventilate before bed, use lighter breathable bedding and keep blinds closed during the hottest hours. In winter, avoid heating the room overnight and reach for warmer bedding instead. Cotton and other natural materials regulate temperature better than synthetics in both seasons.

Dim it. In the hour or two before bed, bright overhead lighting keeps your brain in daytime mode, so softer and lower light helps signal that the day is winding down. In the morning the opposite applies: getting bright light early anchors your rhythm for the night ahead. Screens are worth easing off too, though the usual reason given is overstated. Daylight is far brighter than any phone or laptop, and that is what your body clock mostly responds to. The bigger problem with screens at night is that they keep your mind switched on when you want it settling.

Answered by Aurore RolandClinical Psychologist, Doctoral Researcher & Sleep Specialist

Most of them are habits rather than the room itself. The phone on the nightstand is the big one: late scrolling keeps your brain alert, and having it within reach makes it easy to check the time or notifications through the night. Bright lights and screens right up to bedtime work against you the same way. Two more worth naming. Clock-watching once you are in bed fuels worry about how little sleep you are getting, which makes sleep less likely, so turn the clock away. And checking a sleep tracker obsessively does more harm than good, because sleep does not respond well to being monitored. An old-school alarm clock and the phone in another room solves most of this.

Answered by Mike OliverHealth Psychologist

They matter for comfort and for pain, which in turn matter for sleep, but neither causes nor cures insomnia. If you wake with back, neck or shoulder pain, or you keep shifting position through the night, your setup is worth changing. If you lie awake with a racing mind, a new mattress will not fix that. There is no single best mattress or pillow. Firmness preference varies between people, and the evidence for any specific type is thin. The practical test is whether you wake without pain and whether you can stay still.

Answered by Tracy HanniganSpecialised Sleep Therapist

Anchor your wake time first and hold it every day, weekends included. Your wake time and your morning light exposure set your body clock, and bedtime follows from those. Get bright light within an hour of waking, and go to bed when you feel sleepy rather than at a time you have decided in advance. Shifting a schedule takes days rather than one night. Move in increments of fifteen to thirty minutes instead of trying to jump two hours. Resist sleeping in after a bad night, since that is what makes the following night harder.

To sleep, you need high sleep pressure and low wake pressure. When you're anxious or stressed, your wake pressure is too high: your nervous system is too active, telling your brain the circumstances aren't right for sleep. This hyperarousal — driven by anxiety — can both trigger insomnia and keep it going.

Answered by Aurore RolandClinical Psychologist, Doctoral Researcher & Sleep Specialist

Partly. Irregular schedules, late caffeine, and screens in bed can disrupt your rhythm and set sleep problems off. What keeps insomnia going is usually how you respond to the bad nights: worrying about sleep, staying in bed longer to catch up, napping. Lifestyle lights the fire. Those habits are what feed it. This changes what you should actually fix. Cleaning up your evening routine helps if the problem is recent. If it has been running for months, the routine is rarely the thing still holding it in place.

Answered by Ginevra PignataNeuroscience Psychologist

Probably not on its own. Insomnia usually starts when a personal vulnerability meets a trigger: a deadline, an illness, a big life change. What your phone does is keep it going. Scrolling social media or work email close to bedtime stimulates your brain at exactly the point you want it winding down. The fix is not giving up your phone. Put it away an hour before bed as part of your wind-down, and keep it out of the bedroom. If you use it as an alarm, buy an alarm clock. That also removes the temptation to check the time at 3 am, which is a problem in its own right.

Answered by Mike OliverHealth Psychologist

Middle-of-the-night waking is common, and it becomes more common with age, so the more useful question is what to do when it happens. Give yourself a chance to drift back without forcing it. If sleep has not returned after 15 to 20 minutes, get up or sit up and do something calm until you feel sleepy. Three things reliably make it worse: scrolling, looking at the clock, and getting a head start on the day. All three tell your brain the night is over. Reading is a better option than any of them.

Answered by John DuffyClinical Psychologist & Sleep Specialist

Early-morning waking is one of the three recognised forms of insomnia, alongside trouble falling asleep and trouble staying asleep. It often reflects a body clock that has shifted earlier, which happens naturally with age. It can also follow evening alcohol or too little daylight. Going to bed early because you are tired can produce it on its own. Nine hours in bed when you need seven means waking before the alarm. A consistent wake time and bright light in the morning both help hold your rhythm in place.

Insomnia is a sleep disorder defined by difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or waking earlier than intended. It affects roughly 1 in 5 people and is one of the most common sleep complaints. It often occurs when the body's natural sleep–wake regulation is disrupted by stress, irregular routines, medical conditions, or other factors that increase alertness at night. Unsure whether your symptoms fit? You can take our free test.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) is widely recognised as the gold-standard treatment. It combines a broad range of tools — sleep diaries, analysis of sleep patterns, schedule adjustments to build sleep pressure, and guidance for managing night-time awakenings. It considers your full 24-hour routine, promoting healthy sleep habits and addressing lifestyle factors that contribute to insomnia.

Answered by Justine KelleherBehavioural Sleep Medicine Specialist

CBT-I is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia, a structured programme that changes the habits and thoughts keeping you awake. European guidelines recommend it as the first-line treatment for chronic insomnia in adults, delivered in person or digitally. It works on what maintains insomnia rather than sedating you through it, which is why the results tend to hold. In practice, it combines a sleep diary to show your real pattern, schedule changes that rebuild sleep pressure, stimulus control to reconnect your bed with sleeping, and work on the night-time worry that keeps the cycle running. It looks at the full 24 hours, not only the night.

Answered by Ginevra PignataNeuroscience Psychologist

When it happens at least three nights a week, for three months or more, and affects how you function during the day. Below that threshold, it is short-term insomnia, which is very common and usually settles once whatever triggered it passes. The distinction matters because the causes differ. Short-term insomnia has a trigger: a deadline, an illness, jet lag, a life change. Chronic insomnia outlasts the trigger, and what keeps it running is the response to the bad nights. Worrying about sleep, spending longer in bed to catch up, napping. Those coping habits are what turn a rough patch into a lasting pattern.

Answered by Gayatri KorhalkarSleep Coach

Most CBT-I programmes run six to eight weeks. People commonly notice a change in the first two to three weeks, though the opening week can feel harder before it gets easier, because rebuilding sleep pressure means spending less time in bed at the start. It is not a quick fix, and it is not designed to be. The reason guidelines put it first is that the gains hold after the programme ends, which is not true of sleep medication. Finishing matters more than starting well.

Both are recommended as first-line treatment in European guidelines. The most recent network meta-analysis found in-person CBT-I, individual or group, produced the strongest effects, with digital CBT-I in the medium range and guided digital programmes performing better than fully unguided ones. Digital works. It is also far easier to actually get.

For chronic insomnia, yes. European guidelines put CBT-I first and medication second, to be used when CBT-I has not been sufficiently effective. Medication is not off the table. It can carry someone through an acute period, and newer options such as daridorexant are approved for longer use. The difference is that CBT-I teaches your system to sleep, so the effect outlasts the treatment. Anything that works by sedating you stops working when you stop taking it.

When the problem has lasted several weeks, happens most nights, and is affecting your mood, focus, or daily life. Some symptoms warrant a check regardless of how long they have been going on, in particular loud snoring or pauses in breathing during sleep, since those point to something a change in routine will not fix. Improving your bedroom and your evening habits is worth doing, and for many people it is enough. If you have sorted those out and are still struggling, more adjustments to the room will not close the gap. Feeling unrefreshed during the day despite enough time in bed is the clearest signal that it is time to get help.

Answered by Vera ClérigoPulmonologist specializing in Sleep Medicine

Yes — we all have natural wake points during the night. These occur between sleep cycles, which typically last around 90 minutes. Depending on your melatonin levels and any underlying worry, these points may or may not be an issue. For many people they aren't even registered and don't cause a full wake-up.

Answered by Justine KelleherBehavioural Sleep Medicine Specialist

If you're lying in bed and your mind starts racing, it's usually best to get out of bed and break the cycle. Do something low-stimulating for a short while — read a book, do some light stretching, look at the night sky. This stops your brain associating the bed with wakefulness and lets sleepiness build again naturally. When you feel sleepy, return to bed and try again. Sleep comes when the conditions are right.

Answered by Rui Francisco PereiraPsychologist, PhD Researcher & Sleep Specialist

Most adults land between six and just over eight hours, and where you sit in that range is personal to you. A better test than the number is whether you can function without significant distress or impairment. If lack of sleep has been affecting your daily life over a stretch of time, you are probably not getting enough. The eight hours rule has done real damage. If you believe you need eight and get seven, you can end up anxious about sleep, and that anxiety is one of the things that keeps insomnia going. Needs also change through life, and needing a little more in winter than in summer is normal. Regularity matters more than duration. Find a wake time that works for your life, weekends included, and hold it.

Answered by Mike OliverHealth Psychologist

Yes. Sleep supports memory consolidation, emotional regulation, immune function and tissue repair, and all of those are disrupted when you do not get enough. Over time, you may notice brain fog, difficulty concentrating, memory lapses, higher stress levels, more frequent illness and slower recovery.

Chronic insomnia is also associated with a higher risk of depression, anxiety, and cardiovascular problems. That is a reason to treat it, not a reason to lie awake worrying about it, which tends to make the sleep worse.

Answered by Gayatri KorhalkarSleep Coach

Not necessarily. For most people, falling asleep takes ten to twenty minutes. If you are consistently out within a minute or two, that often points to sleep debt: your body is short enough on rest that it takes the first opportunity it gets. Dropping off on the sofa in the evening is the same signal. It is worth asking whether you are giving yourself enough time in bed, and whether you actually feel rested during the day. Fast sleep onset plus daytime tiredness is a very different picture from fast sleep onset plus feeling fine.

Answered by Alexandra ParradoSleep Specialist

You cannot control sleep directly, but you can control what influences it. Keep a consistent wake time every day, get light in the morning, limit stimulants in the hours before bed, and dim lights and screens one to two hours before you turn in. The part that matters most is the mindset. Trying to fall asleep is itself a form of effort, and effort keeps you awake. Set up the conditions and let sleep arrive rather than chasing it.

Answered by John DuffyClinical Psychologist & Sleep Specialist

Close off the working day much earlier than bedtime and put something pleasant between the two. If your brain is still busy when you get into bed, the day has not really ended yet. Journaling before bed reliably lowers pre-sleep arousal, as does a short gratitude practice. You cannot be anxious and grateful at the same time. Writing down what is on your mind gets it out of the loop it has been running in, which is often enough to let sleepiness through.

Answered by Tracy HanniganSpecialised Sleep Therapist